The Parish Clerk (1907)
by
Peter Hampson Ditchfield
Part 6 out of 6
beach; it was then taken possession of by the inhabitants and erected in
this church." Others, wishing to show their intimate knowledge of this
instrument, have told their friends that the trumpet, which is a solid
piece of wood, held by the angel at the summit of the northern
organ-case, is only blown at the death of a royal person. And a lady,
instead of informing her friend that it was a _vox humana_ stop, called
it a _vox populi_.
We were asked by one, "Did this organ break the windows? I was told a
festival service was going on, the organist blew the trumpet stop, and
broke the windows." Another inquiry was, "Who invented the pedals of
this organ? We were told that quite a youth believed that pedals would
improve it. He added them, and to the day of his death, whenever he was
within a few miles of Yarmouth, he would come and hear them." In our
hearing one man informed another that "this organ has miles of piping
running somewhere about the town underground." The queries we have had
to answer have been exceedingly numerous. Looking at the enclosure
containing the console of the organ, a visitor wished to know whether
the organist sat inside there. Another asked whether it was the vestry.
One who saw great possibilities in such an organ inquired, "Can he play
this organ in any other place beside the key-board?" The pulpit being of
so unique a character has had a full share of attention, and no lack of
admirers. Gazing at it with eyes filled with wonderment, a woman said to
her daughter, "Maria, you're not to touch not even the pews." Everything
within sight of such a structure she held sacred. Astonished at its
internal capacity, another asked, "Do all the clergy sit in it?" Not
realising its true character and intent, a lady wished to know, "By whom
was this monument erected?" As we had long since ascertained how
impossible it was to please everybody, we were not surprised to find
dissatisfied critics presenting themselves. One of this class said, "It
looks like a tomb, and smells like a coffin." Another, with sarcastic
wit, said, "Moses looks like some churchwarden who would have to be
careful how he ate his soup." We append a few more questions we have had
to answer:
"Was this church built by St. Nicholas?"
"Does this church stand in four parishes?"
"How many miles is it round the walls of this church?"
"How many does this hold? We were told it holds 12,000."
A clergyman asked, "Where are the bells? Are they in the tower?"
"Haven't you a Bible 3000 years old?"
"Haven't you a Bible that turns over its own leaves?"
"Who had the missing leaves of this (Cranmer's) Bible?"
"Is this the Bible that was chained in Brentwood Church?"
A lady pointing to the font asked, "Is that the Communion Table?"
An elderly lady at the brass lectern inquired, "Is this the clerk's
seat?"
A man standing looking over the Communion rails wished to know, "What
part of the church do you call this?"
"Was one of the giants buried in the churchyard?"
"Where is the gravestone where a man, his wife, and twenty-five children
were buried? I saw it when I was here some years ago, and forget on
which side of the church it is."
A young man gazing at the top of the lofty flagstaff just inside the
churchyard gates, asked, "Was that erected to the memory of a
shipwrecked crew?"
With such extraordinary exhibitions of blatant ignorance can a worthy
clerk regale himself, but they must be very trying at times.
Mr. Lupson has also written _The Friendly Guide to the Parish Church and
other places of interest in the neighbourhood, The Rows of Great
Yarmouth; why so constructed_, and some devotional works.
He is also the author of the following additional verse to the National
Anthem, sung on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria:
"Long life our Queen has seen:
Glorious her reign has been:
Secure her throne!
Her subjects' joy and pride,
God's Word be still her guide:
Long may she yet abide
Empress and Queen!"
The sons of parish clerks have sometimes attained to high dignity in the
Church. The clerk of Totnes, Devonshire, had a son who was born in 1718,
and who became the distinguished author and theologian, Dr. Kennicott.
On one occasion he went to preach at the church in his native village,
where his father was still acting as clerk. The old man insisted upon
performing his accustomed duties, placing the surplice or black gown on
his son's shoulders, and sitting below him in the clerk's lowly desk.
The mother of the scholar was so overcome with joy at hearing him
preach, that she fainted and was carried out of the church insensible.
Cuthbert Bede records that he was acquainted with two eminent clergymen
who were the sons of parish clerks. One of them was a learned professor
of a college and an author of repute, and the other was attended by his
father in the same manner as Dr. Kennicott was by his.
Sometimes our failures are the stepping-stones to success in life. The
celebrated Dr. Prideaux, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford and
Bishop of Worcester in 1641, was the son of poor parents at Harford,
near Totnes. He applied for the post of parish clerk at Ugborough, but
failed to obtain the appointment. He was much disappointed, and in
despair wandered to Oxford, where he became a servitor at Exeter
College, and ultimately attained to the position of rector or head of
his college. When he became bishop, he was accustomed to say, "If I
could have been clerk of Ugborough, I had never been bishop of
Worcester."
The history of the clerks of Barnstaple (1500-1900) has been traced by
the Rev. J.F. Chanter[95], and the record is remarkable as showing their
important status, and how some were raised to the diaconate, and in
difficult times rendered good service to the Church and the incumbents.
The first clerk of whom any trace can be found was Thomas Hunt
(1540-68). He appears in the register books as _clericus de hoc opido_,
and in the churchwardens' accounts for 1564 there is an entry, "Item to
Hunt the clerke paid for lights 2 s. 8 d." He was succeeded by his son,
John Hunt (1564-84). Robert Langdon flourished as clerk from 1584 to
1625, when spiritual matters were at a low ebb in the parish. The vicar
was excommunicated in 1589. His successor quickly resigned, and the next
vicar was soon involved in feuds with some of his puritanically inclined
parishioners. The quarrel was increased by the unworthy conduct of
Robert Smyth, a preacher and lecturer who was appointed and paid by the
corporation, and cared little for vicar or bishop. He was an extreme
Puritan, and had a considerable following in the parish. His refusal to
wear a surplice, though ordered to do so by the bishop, brought the
dispute to a head. He was inhibited, but his followers retorted by
accusing the vicar of being a companion of tipplers and fooling away his
time with pipe and tabor, and finally bringing an accusation against
him, on account of which the poor man was cited before the High
Commission Court. The charge came to nothing, and Smyth for a time
conformed and wore his surplice. Then some of the Puritan faction
refused to accept the vicar's ministrations, and two of them were tried
at the assizes and sent to gaol. "If they would rather go to gaol than
church," said the town clerk, "much good may it do them. I am not of
their mind." Passive resisters were not encouraged in those days. But
the relations between vicar and lecturer continued strained, and the
former bethought him of his faithful clerk, Robert Langdon, as a helper
in the ministry. He applied to the bishop to raise him to the diaconate,
and this was done, Langdon being ordained deacon on 21 September, 1606,
by William Cotton, Bishop of Exeter. The record of this notable event,
the ordination of a parish clerk, thus appears in the ordination
register of the diocese:
"In festo Matthaei Apostoli Dominus Episcopus in ecclesia
parochiali de Silfertone xxi mo die Septembris 1606 ordines
sacros celebrando ordinavit, sequuntur Diaconi tunc et
ibidinem ordinati videlicet Robertus Langdon de Barnestapli."
[Footnote 95: _Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the
Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art_, 1904, xxxvi. pp. 390-414.]
Langdon remained parish clerk and deacon nineteen years, and the
register contained the record of his burial, "Robert Langdon deacon 5th
July 1625." He seems to have brought peace to the troubled mind of his
vicar, whose tombstone declares:
"Many are the troubles of the Righteous
But the Lord delivereth out of all."
Langdon used to keep the registers, and he began to record in them a
series of notes on passing events which add greatly to the interest of
such volumes. Thus we find an account of a grievous fire at Tiverton in
1595, a violent storm at Barnstaple in 1606, and a great frost in the
same year; another fire at Tiverton in 1612, and the scraps of Latin
which appear show that he was a man of some education.
Anthony Baker reigned from 1625 to 1646, who had also been ordained
deacon prior to his appointment to Barnstaple, and belonged to an old
yeoman family. He was popular with the people, who presented him with a
new gown. He saw the suspension of his vicar by the Standing Committee,
and probably died of the plague in 1646, when the town found itself
without vicar, deacon, or clerk. The plague was raging, people dying,
and no one to minister to them. No clergyman would come save the old
vicar, Martyn Blake, who was at length allowed by the Puritan rulers to
return, to the great joy of the inhabitants. He appointed Symon Sloby
(1647-81), but could not get him ordained deacon, as bishops and
ordination were abhorred and abolished by the Puritan rulers. Sloby was
appointed "Register of Barnestapell" during the Commonwealth period. He
saw his vicar ejected and carried off to Exeter by some of the
Parliamentary troopers and subsequently restored to the living, and
records with much joy and loyalty the restoration of the monarchy. He
served three successive vicars, records many items of interest,
including certain gifts to himself with a pious wish for others to go
and do likewise, and died in a good old age.
Richard Sleeper succeeded him in 1682, and reigned till 1698. He
conformed to the more modern style of clerk of an important parish, a
dignified official who attended the vicar and performed his duties on
Sunday, occupying the clerk's desk. Of his successors history records
little save their names. William Bawden, a weaver, was clerk from 1708
to 1726, William Evans 1726 to 1741, John Taylor 1741 to 1760, John
Comer 1760 to 1786, John Shapcote 1786 to 1795, Joseph Kimpland 1795 to
1798, who was a member of an old Barnstaple family and was succeeded by
his son John (1798-1832), John Thorne (1832-1859), John Hartnoll
(1859-1883), and William Youings 1883 to 1901.
This is a remarkable record, and it would be well if in all parishes a
list of clerks, with as much information as the industrious inquirer can
collect, could be so satisfactorily drawn up and recorded, as Mr.
Chanter has so successfully done for Barnstaple. The quaint notes in the
registers written by the clerk give some sort of key to his character,
and the recollections of the oldest inhabitants might be set down who
can tell us something of the life and character of those who have lived
in more modern times. We sometimes record in our churches the names of
the bishops of the see, and of the incumbents of the parish; perhaps a
list of the humbler but no less faithful servants of the Church, the
parish clerks, might be added.
Often can we learn much from them of old-world manners, superstitions,
folk-lore, and the curious form of worship practised in the days of our
forefathers. My own clerk is a great authority on the lore of ancient
days, of bygone hard winters, of weather-lore, of the Russian war time,
and of the ways of the itinerant choir and orchestra, of which he was
the noted leader. Strange and curious carols did he and his sons and
friends sing for us on Christmas Eve, the words and music of which have
been handed down from father to son for several generations, and have
somewhat suffered in their course. His grandson still performs for us
the Christmas Mumming Play. The clerk is seventy years of age, and
succeeded his father some forty years ago. Save for "bad legs," the
curse of the rustic, he is still hale and hearty, and in spite of an
organ and surpliced choir, his powerful voice still sounds with a
resonant "Amen." Never does he miss a Sunday service.
We owe much to our faithful clerks. Let us revere their memories. They
are a most interesting race, and your "Amen clerk" is often more
celebrated and better known than the rector, vicar, patron or squire.
The irreverence, of which we have given many alarming instances, was
the irreverence of the times in which they lived, of the bad old days of
pluralist rectors and itinerant clerics, when the Church was asleep and
preparing to die with what dignity she could. We may not blame the
humble servitor for the faults and failings of his masters and for the
carelessness and depravity of his age. We cannot judge his homely ways
by the higher standard of ceremonial and worship to which we have become
accustomed. Charity shall hide from us his defects, while we continue to
admire the virtues, faithfulness and devotion to duty of the old parish
clerk, who retains a warm place in our hearts and is tenderly and
affectionately remembered by the elder generation of English
Churchpeople.
CHAPTER XXIII
CONCLUSION
The passing of the parish clerk causes many reflections. For a thousand
years he has held an important position in our churches. We have seen
him robed in his ancient dignity, a zealous and honoured official,
without whose aid the services of the Church could scarcely have been
carried on. In post-Reformation times he continued his career without
losing his rank or status, his dignity or usefulness. We have seen him
the life and mainstay of the village music, the instructor of young
clerics, the upholder of ancient customs and old-established usages. We
have regretted the decay in his education, his irreverence and
absurdities, and have amused ourselves with the stories of his quaint
ways and strange eccentricities. His unseemly conduct was the fault of
the dullness, deadness, and irreverence of the age in which he lived,
rather than of his own personal defects. In spite of all that can be
said against him, he was often a very faithful, loyal, pious, and
worthy man.
His place knows him no more in many churches. We have a black-gowned
verger in our towns; a humble temple-sweeper in our villages. The only
civil right which he retains is that the prospectors of new railways are
obliged to deposit their plans and maps with him, and well do I
remember the indignation of my own parish clerk when the plans of a
proposed railway, addressed to "the Parish Clerk," were delivered by the
postman to the clerk of the Parish Council. It was a wrong that could
scarcely be righted.
I would venture to suggest, in conclusion, that it might be worth while
for the authorities of the Church to consider the possibility of a
revival of the office. It would be a great advantage to the Church to
restore the parish clerk to his former important position, and to
endeavour to obtain more learned and able men for the discharge of the
duties. The office might be made again a sphere of training for those
who wish to take Holy Orders, wherein a young man might be thoroughly
educated in the duties of the clerical profession. It would be an
immense assistance to an incumbent to have an active and educated layman
associated with him in the work of the parish, in teaching, in reading
and serving in church, and in visiting the sick. Like the clerk of old,
he would be studying and preparing for ordination, and there could be no
better school for training than actual parish work under the supervision
of an earnest and wise rector.
The Church has witnessed vast changes and improvements during the last
fifty years. The poor clerk has been left to look after himself. The
revival of the office and an improvement in the position and education
of the holders of it would, I fully believe, be of an immense advantage
to the Church and a most valuable assistance to the clergy.
INDEX
Absolon, Chaucer's portrait of, 26
David, clerk of Great Yarmouth, 185
"Acts," a Christian name, 264
Addison, on clerks, 64
Advent, a carol for, 168
"Ales," clerk's, 42
Allington, Kent, 230
Alnwick, Turner, clerk of, 232
"Amen" epitaph, 97
_Ancient Mysteries_, 137
Andrews, W., _Curious Epitaphs_, 100
_Curiosities of the Church_, 188
Antiquity of clerk's office, 16, etc.
Apostles, complimenting the, 265
Appointment, the right of, 246
_Aquaebajalus_, 27
Arms of the Company of Clerks, 111
_Art of Politicks_, 184
Art, the clerk in, 195, etc.
Ashford, Isaac, the story of, 68
Aston, Yorks, 5
Astronomical clerks, 209, 258
Atchley, Dr. Cuthbert, 49
Atkinson, Rev. Canon, 302, 303
Atkins, Thomas of Chillenden, 236
Augustine of Canterbury, St., 16, 35
Avington, female clerk at, 202
Badger, H.W., of Mallow, 319
Baker, Anthony, deacon-clerk, 329
Bakewell, the Roe family of, 93
Barkham, 143, 312, 331
Barnet, East, clerk of, 60
Barnstaple, clerks of, 61, 327
Barrel-organs, 5
Barton Turf, Norfolk, dog-whippers land at, 34
Beating the bounds at Ringmer, 34
Bede Roll of the Company, 113
Bede, Cuthbert, 91, 161, 201, 317, 327
Bells to warn travellers, 83
Belbroughton, 96
_Belts Life_, in the pulpit, 231
Belton, Suffolk, Noah Pole, clerk of, 311
Bennet, John, of Woodstock, 163
Beresford Hope on old services, 8, 170
Besant, Sir W., description of old clerk, 21
Bilby, Thomas, author of hymn, 154
Bills of Mortality, 123
Bingley, Hezekiah Briggs, of, 100
Bletchley, clerk of, 59
Bly, Sarah, sexton, 201
"Bobber," or sluggard-waker, 204
Bond family of Worcester, 318
Boniface, Archbishop, constitutions of, 30
Borne, Hooker's parish, 24
_Borough, The_, by G. Crabbe, 66
Bradford-on-Avon, 158, 194
Bramwells of Chapel-en-le-Frith, 319
Bristol, St. Nicholas, 28, 50
Broadway, the Tustins of, 318
Bromfield, Salop, 280
Bromham, the clerk of, 190
Bromsgrove, Rose family of, 318
Burrows, Mrs., recollections of, 283
Buxted, clerk of, 55
Caistor, Lincolnshire, 227
Calculating clerk, a, 211
Cambridgeshire curate, a, 15
Canes in churches, 190
Canterbury, Guild of Clerks at, 105
Carley, Thomas, of Grafton Underwood, 152
Carne, James, oldest living parish clerk, 319
Carshalton, register of, 141
Catechising, 228
Catechising in church by the clerk, 59, 274
Catwick, Thomas Dixon, of, 206
Celibacy of clerks, 18
Chanter, Rev. J.F., on clerks of Barnstaple, 327
Chapel-en-le-Frith, 319
Chapple, William, of Swymbridge, 174
Charman Dean, smuggling at, 84
Charters of Company of Clerks, 106, 109
Chaucer's portrait of frivolous clerk, 26
Cheshire clerk, an old, 225
Chess in a village, 242
Chester, plays at, 134
Sir Robert, spoliator of Clerks' Company, 108
Chillenden, Kent, 236
Choirs, old-time, 1, 3, 4, 198, 213
"Chosen people," 235
Church, description of an old, 1
Churching of women, 231
Churchwardens' Account books, 19
Clark, John, the register book of, 145
Clarke, John, 111
Clarkson, David, of Feckenham, 318
Claverley, Shropshire, 188
Clergy, defective readers, 58
Clerk's ale, 42
house, 33
_Clerks Book, The_, 52, 248
Clerks, too clerical, 79, etc.
Clerk's Latin, 242
Clerkenwell and clerks' plays, 130, etc.
Clerkship, stepping-stone to higher preferment, 32
Coaching days, 241
Collis family of clerks, 91
Collumpton, female clerk at, 202
Company of parish clerks, 104, etc.
Cornish parsons, 180
Cornish wreckers, 84
Coronation changes in the Prayer Book, 314
Council of Merida, 17
Toledo, 17
Court, George, of Wednesbury, 289
Coventry, Trinity Church, 28, 36, 50
Coventry, plays at, 134
Cowper's mortuary verses, 69
_The Sofa_, 71
_The Task_, 184
Crabbe's sketch of old clerics, 13
Crabbe's sketch of old clerks, 66
Crayford, Kent, "Amen" epitaph at, 97
Cromer, David Vial of, 92
Cropthorne, Worcestershire, 102
Crosthwaite and catechising, 277
Curious stories, 307, etc.
Dagenham and its clerk, 313
Dean, West, Sussex, 233
Decline of clerks, 61
Decorating the church, 193
Deputations, 217
Descent into Hell, 136
Dickenson, Thomas, licensed to officiate, 81
Dicker, Robert, of Crediton, 257
Diggs, David, 6, 58, 162
Dismissing a clerk, 247, 250
Dixon, Thomas, a curious character, 206
Dog, an archbishop's, 189
Dogs fighting in church, 85
Dog-whippers, 34, 188
Dogs lost, notices of, 176
Dogs in churches, 189
Duke's present of game, a, 177
Dunstable, 20
Dunstan, St., 16
Easter cakes, 41
Eastham, clerk of, 55
Ecclesfield, clerks at, 298
Eccleshall's cricketing clerk, 182
_Ecclesiastical Law_, by Sir R. Phillimore, 247
Edgar, King, canons of, 16
Elliott, Rev. E.K., recollections of, 83
Elmstead, 49
Elton, Miss, recollections of, 292
Epitaphs of clerks, 90, etc.
Epworth and John Wesley, 193
Ethelbert, King, 16
Evison, Thomas, of Wragsby, 281
Exeter, Synod of, 17
Faithfulness of clerks, 23
Fairfield, 80
Fasting Communion, a tradition, 237
Faversham, 28, 45, 50
Feckenham, 318
Feudal customs, 284
Fewson, Richard, a curious clerk, 208
Fielding's clerics, 11
Fighting in church, 49, 279
Finch, Betty, "bobber," 204
Flore, carol by the clerk of, 167
Ford family of King's Norton, 102, 318
Foster, Joshua, of Caistor, 227
Foston-le-Clay and Sydney Smith, 216
Fressingfield, clerk's house at, 34
Frith's Vicar of Wakefield, 199
Funerals, London clerks at, 116
Funerals, old time, 218, 222
Furness, Richard, clerk of Dore, 164
Gadara, swine of, 238
Gainsborough's portrait of Orpin, 195
Gargrave, York, 157
Gay's allusion to clerks, 72
George IV and Queen Caroline, 183
Ghost story, 313
Gill, Mrs., recollections of, 170, 278
"God speed 'em well," 215, 230
Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_, 12
Goose in the pulpit, 266
Grafton Underwood, 152
Gray, John, clerk at Eton College,
Green, Rev. W.F., recollections of, 293
Gregory IX, decretals of, 17
Gregory Smith, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 315
Grindal, Archbishop, injunctions of, 54, 80
Grosseteste, Bishop, 17
Guild of Clerks, 18, 104, etc.
Guinea-fowls, disturbing congregation, 261
Gunpowder Plot, 161
Haddon, West, 91
Halls of the Clerks' Company, 107, 110, etc.
"Harmun," a Christian name, 263
Hartlepool, clerk of, 59
Harvey, Christopher, 63
Haw of Halton Holgate, 236
Hawker, Rev. R.S., recollections of, 85, 313
Hayes, disgraceful scenes at, 187
Hebrew scholar, a, 323
Hemmans, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 281
Herbert, George, on responding, 68
Herbert, George, clerk of Eye, 93
Heredity of the clerk's office, 318
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, 17
Hinton, William, a Wilts clerk, 239
Hobbes, William, clerk at Plymouth, 25
Hobby, a matrimonial, 315
Hogarth's _Sleeping Congregation_, 131
Holy loaf, 38, etc.
Holy water, 27
Hone's _Year Book_ and _Book of Days_, 87, 99
Hooker, the Judicious, 24
Hopkins, John, clerk at Salisbury, 162
Houses for clerks, 33
How, Bishop Walsham, recollections of, 298
Hust, Richard, portrait of, 111
Hutchinson, F., a Yorkshire clerk, 302
Hutton, William, verses by, 73
Huyk, John, of Hull, 35
Hymn in praise of William III, 160
Illuminated MSS., 197
Ingenious clerk, an, 259
Ingham, James, of Whalley, 236
Jachin, the story of, 66
Jenkins, Rev. M.E., recollections of, 302
Jenner's "Mount Sion," 185
Jerry and the "Northern Lights," 218
John of Althon, 32, 49
Johnson's definition and opinion of clerks, 66
Kennicott, Dr., a clerk's son, 326
Kent, John, clerk of St. Albans, 87
Kenwyn, dogs fighting in church, 85
Kilbrogan, Ireland, 159
King's Norton, the Fords of, 102, 318
Lainston, romance of parish register of, 151
Langdon, Robert, deacon-clerk, 329
Langhorne, Rev. W.H., recollections of, 231
Langport, Somerset, 41
Laracor, Meath, 180
Latin, a clerk's, 242
Lavant, East, Russell of, 260
Law and the clerk, the, 245, etc.
Lawton, Cheshire, 225
Leckhampton, 235
"Leg end, the," 282
Legg, Dr. J. Wickham, 52, 169, 248
Legge, Rev. A.G., recollections of, 259, 265
Lessons, right of reading, 53
Licence granted to clerk to officiate, 81
Liston, Essex, 286
Literature, the clerk in, 63, etc.
London, St. Peter-the-Less, 35
London, St. Stephen, Coleman Street, 46, 142
London, St. Michael, Cornhill, 50, 111
London, St. Margaret, Westminster, 53, 200
London, the clerks of, 115, etc.
London, Guildhall chapel, 115
London, St. Margaret, Lothbury, 142
London, Lambeth parish, 147
London, Battersea, 147
London, St. Mary's, Islington, 154
London, St. Matthew's Chapel, Spring Gardens, 191
London, parishes, 129
Longevity of clerks, 318
Lowestoft, Suffolk, Newson of, 311
Lupson, E.J. of Great Yarmouth, 320
Lyndewoode, William, on married clerks, 18, 35, 49
Machyn's Diary, 117
Maldon, Essex, a curious letter, 309
Mangotsfield, Bamford, clerk of, 230
Marlow, Bucks, 319
Marriage Act of 1653, 81
Marriages by clerks, 81
Matthew Paris, 43
Maundy Thursday, 37
Maybrick, William, and his sons, 308
Mediaeval clerk, 31, etc.
Milston, clerk at, 64
Milverton, Somerset, 41, 59
Moody, clerk at Redbourn, 172
More, Sir Thomas, 32, 109
Morebath, dispute at, 29
Mortality, Bills of, 123
Morwenstow and its ghost story, 313
Myre, John, instructions to parish priests, 45
_New Remarks of London_, 127
Newport Pagnell, Bucks, 285
Northampton, All Saints, 69
"Northern Lights," 217
Notices, the clerk giving out, 169, etc.
curious, 270
Oldswinford, the Orfords of, 318
Orchestra, village, 4, 213
Orpin, portrait by Gainsborough, 195
Osbornes of Belbroughton, 96
Overy, St. Mary, 80
Pageantry of clerks, 119
Pall used as horsecloth, 295
_The Parish Clerk_, a new comic song, 73
_Parish Clerk's Guide, The_, 46, 57
_Parish Clerk_, by Hewett, 6, 58, 162
_Parish Clerks, Some Account of_, by J. Christie, 107
_Parish Register, The_, by Crabbe, 67
Parish registers and the clerks, 140, etc.
_Parish Registers, History of_, 148
Parsons, old-time, 1, 10-15
Parson and Clerk, rocks so named, 86
Pattishall, clerk's register of, 145
Perquisites of clerks, 41
Pews, old-fashioned, 2
Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, 43
Plague in London, 125
Playford, John, 56
Plays performed by clerks, 131, etc.
Pluralism, evil effects of, 14
Plymouth, St. Andrew, 25
Poet, the clerk as a, 154, etc.
Poor rates levied on the altar, 268
Pope, Alexander, _Memoir of P.P._, 75
Portraits in the hall of the Company, 112
Prideaux, Dr., 327
Priestly, Peter, clerk of Wakefield, 86
Printing press, the clerks', 125
Pup wanted, a, 317
Puritanism, effects of, 7
Radcliffe, Lancashire, 304
Radcliffe-on-Sour, 100
Railways, the advent of, 242
Raw, Frank, of Selby, epitaph of, 100
Rawsley, Miss, recollections of, 236
Rawsley, Canon, story told by, 313
Reading, duty of, 48, etc.
Reading, St. Giles, 19, 33, 45
Reading, St. Lawrence, 21, 39
Reading, St. Mary, 33, 39
_Rectores chori_, 36
Recollections of old clerks, 255, etc.
Redbourn, Herts, 172
Reeve, Rev. E.H.L., recollections of, 286
Reformation changes, 51
Rempstone, wages of clerk at, 248
"Responding inaudibly," 307
Revival of office of clerk, 334
Rex _v._ Erasmus Warren, 251
Richard I as _rector chori_, 32
Ringmer, 34
Rival clerks, 49, 211, 279
Rivington family, 127
Robinson, Daniel, of Flore, 167
Rochester and its parish register, 150
Rochester, Earl of, epigram by, 3
Roe family at Bakewell, 93
Romford, 307
Roper, William, of Clerks' Company, 109
Rose family of Bromsgrove, 318
Rugby, St. Andrew, 91
Russell, Rev. J., of Swymbridge, 174
Russell, clerk of East Lavant, 260
St. Albans, clerk of, 87
St. Columb Minor, Cornwall, 320
St. Nicholas, patron saint of clerks, 105
Salehurst, wages of clerk, 249
Salisbury, St. Edmund, clerk's house at, 34
Salisbury, John Hopkins of, 162
Saltwood, Kent, clerk's house at, 34
Sapiston and the Duke's hare, 177
Scarlett, Old, of Peterborough, 98
Schoolmaster, clerk as, 44
Scothorne, Blackburn's epitaph, 103
Selwyn, Rev. W., recollections of, 279
Sermon forgotten, 287
Sexton and clerk, 22, 64, 253
Shakespeare's allusion to clerks, 63
Shenley, Rogers of, 92
Sherlock, F., recollections of, 308
Shoes in church, 226
Sidbury, clerk of, 59
Singing, duty of, 48, etc.
Singing, efforts to improve, 121
Skinners' Well, 131
_Sleeping Congregation_, by Hogarth 181
Sleepy church and sleepy clerks, 179, etc.
Sluggard-waker, 187
Smuggling days and smuggling ways, 79, 83, etc.
Smoking in church, 228, 295, 303
Snell, Peter, of Crayford, 97
Soberton, Hants, smuggling at, 84
_Social Life as told by Parish Registers_, 142, 148
Solomon Daisy of _Barnaby Rudge_, 72
Song during the sermon, a, 292
_Spectator, The_, 64, 65
Spoliation of Clerks' Company, 108
Sporting parsons, 171, 269
Sporting clerks, 211
Squire's pew, the, 2
Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks, 40
Staple-next-Wingham, 101
Sternhold and Hopkins's Psalter, 3
Stoke, 300
Story, Robert, poet, 157
Stoulton, epitaph at, 103
Stratfieldsaye, 300, 305
Surplices objected to, 118
Swanscombe, Kent, 8
Swift on old pews, 2
Swift and his clerk Roger, 180
Syntax, Dr., 14
Tait, Archbishop, on old services, 8
Teeth, story of "artful," 174
Tennyson's allusion to clerks, 72
Tenterden, John Hopton of, 80
Thame, curious banns at, 316
Thirza, a Christian name, 282
Tingrith and its potentate, 283
Totnes, Devon, 326
Tourists' queries, 321
Town crier as clerk, 293
Tunbridge Wells, Jenner's "Mount Sion," 185
Uffington, Salop, 299
Upton, near Droitwich, 179
Venables, Rev. Canon, recollections of, 267
Verney, Lady, _Essays and Tales_, 74
Vickers, Rev. W.V., recollections of, 255
Visitation of the sick, 46
Wages of clerks, 248
Wakefield, 87
Walker, Rev. Robert, the "Wonderful," 11
Waltham, 79
Holy Cross, 81
Walton, Isaac, story of faithful clerk, 24
Warrington and its "bobber," 204
_Way to find Sunday without an Almanack, The_, 73
Webster's _Village Choir_, 198
Wednesbury, 145, 191, 289
Wesley and his clerk, 193
Westbere, 79
Westhoughton, 305
Westley, 228
Whalley, clerk at, 236
Wheatley, female clerk at, 202
Whitewashed church, a, 295
Whittingdon, Thomas Evans of, 92
"Wicked man, the," 256
Wilberforce, Bishop, on squire's pew, 2
Willoughton, Betty Wells of, 203
Wills containing bequests to clerks, 31
Wimborne Minster, 55, 233
Windermere, clerk of, 230
Wise, Mr., of Weekley, recollections of, 292
Witch as parish clerk, 203
Woburn, J. Brewer of, 293
Wolstanton, 299
Wolverley, Worcestershire, 96
Women as parish clerks, 200, etc.
as sextons, 254
Woodmancote, old clerk at, 233
Woodstock, J. Bennet, clerk of, 163
Wootton, Paul, clerk at Bromham, 190
Worcester, St. Michael, clerk's house at, 34
Worcester, St. Michael, the Bond family of, 318
Wordsworth, on the "Wonderful Walker," 11
Workington and its beadle, 299
Worrall family of Wolverley, 96
Worthing, smuggling at, 83
Worth, John Alcorn of, 101
Wragby, clerk of, 281
Wren, William, of Stondon Massey, 287
Yarmouth, Great, the clerk of, 320
York, mystery plays at, 133
Yorkshire clerks, 206, etc., 302
Young, Rev. J.C., recollections of, 239
"Zulphur," a Christian name, 258
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